Performative Work: Bridging Performativity and Institutional Theory in the Responsible Investment Field

Callon’s performativity thesis has illuminated how economic theories and calculative devices shape markets, but has been challenged for its neglect of the organizational, institutional and political context. Our seven-year qualitative study of a large financial data company found that the company’s initial attempt to change the responsible investment field through a performative approach failed because of the constraints posed by field practices and organizational norms on the design of the calculative device. However, the company was subsequently able to put in place another form of performativity by attending to the normative and regulative associations of the device. We theorize this route to performativity by proposing the concept of performative work, which designates the necessary institutional work to enable translation and the subsequent adoption of the device. We conclude by considering the implications of performative work for the performativity and the institutional work literatures

Is There a New HRM? Contemporary Evidence and Future Directions

[Excerpt] Is there a new human resource management? Yo. That is, yes and no. A new perspective -- strategic human resource management -- emerged during the 80s to take its place alongside the more traditional operational and programmatic perspectives as a major influence on the field. This perspective has rapidly progressed in terms of theory and research (if not practice). But, it continues to take many shapes and forms, and even with its various permutations, is far from universally embraced by scholars or practitioners. What follows is a brief look at the strategic perspective of the field. It begins with a summary of some common themes. This is followed by an illustrative review of extant theory,which in particular distinguishes between the two dominant theoretical streams which have thus far emerged: (1) the multiple model theorists (MMTs) who are given to building typologies of human resource strategies and describing or prescribing the conditions under which the various types work or should work best and (2) the dominant model theorists (DMTs) who are rather less preoccupied with contingencies and rather more concerned with the details and promulgation of their preferred models or strategies within and across firms. Next comes a look at the extent to which these two views show up in actual practice.The evidence is sparse, but their diffusion appears to be rather limited thus far. This naturally gives rise to a discussion of the factors which seem to encourage and, especially, discourage diffusion. Particular attention is paid to the adoption of the so-called strategic business partner role by human resource executives, managers, and professionals, and to the adequacy of this role as a catalyst for the diffusion of the strategic perspective across the U. S. and Canadian economies. Finally, suggestions are made regarding future theoretical and empirical work which might help keep the strategic perspective moving ahead

The European Central Bank

The establishment of the ECB and with it the launch of the euro has arguably been a unique endeavor in economic history, representing an important experiment in central banking. This note aims to summarize some of the main lessons learned from this experiment and sketch some of the prospects for the ECB. It is written for "The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics", 2nd edition. JEL Classification: E52, E5

Target costing in construction: a comparative study

Target costing is an approach for the development of new products in the automobile industry, aimed at reducing their life-cycle costs while ensuring quality, reliability and other client requirements, by examining all possible ideas for cost reduction at the product planning, research and development and prototyping phases. Prior studies have attempted to adapt the manufacturing target costing process to the project-based nature of the construction industry. This paper aims to provide insights for future target costing implementations in the public sector projects. A qualitative comparison of three studies is performed through the lens of a set of target costing influencing factors. Similarities and differences revealed in the comparison suggest that factors related to supplier-base strategy and to the nature of customer are potentially relevant to future target costing implementations in public sector projects

Consumer Operated and Oriented Plans (CO-OPs): An Interim Assessment of Their Prospects

Provides an overview of nonprofit, member-governed plans that will create innovative care delivery and payment models to compete in states' individual and small group health insurance markets. Outlines challenges and potential effect on the market

Market scenarios and alternative administrative frameworks for US educational satellite systems

Costs and benefits of developing an operational educational satellite system in the U.S. are analyzed. Scenarios are developed for each educational submarket and satellite channel and ground terminal requirements for a large-scale educational telecommunications system are estimated. Alternative organizational frameworks for such a system are described

Why infrastructure financing facilities often fall short of their objectives

To encourage the private funding and provision of infrastructure services, governments have used specialized financing facilities to offer financial support to investors, often in the form of grants, soft loans, or guarantees. The authors present case studies of infrastructure financing facilities in various stages of development in Colombia, India, and Pakistan. They also present case studies of government-sponsored financing facilities (not of infrastructure) in Argentina, and Moldova. They find that these facilities have often fallen short of their objectives for two main reasons. First, the environment was not conducive to private participation in infrastructure because of poor sector policies, an unstable macroeconomic environment, and inadequate financial sector policies, among other reasons. Second, the facility was faulty in design - in terms of sectors targeted, pricing of instruments, and consistency of objectives, and instruments.Decentralization,Banks&Banking Reform,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Municipal Financial Management,Municipal Financial Management,Banks&Banking Reform,Housing Finance,Public Sector Economics&Finance,National Governance